Can eBay ban me for filing bankruptcy?

[happyhaus]

I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. I was an active seller up until October of 2012. I didn't realize that I had fees left to pay after I quit selling, and my account ended up being suspended. A friend asked if I would sell a few things for her, and when I logged onto my account I saw the suspension, paid the overdue fees and thought all was good.

After one day passed and my account was still suspended, I called eBay, and the person I spoke with said, "Oh it's okay, your account will be reinstated in the next 24 hours."

24 hours passed, still suspended. Called again. Again I was told, "Oh! Just a glitch. It will be reinstated in 24 hours."

Another 24 hours passed, still suspended. I called today and after talking to someone in T&S, they said that since I had filed for bankruptcy, I was "banned from eBay forever". I explained to the person that I had filed in 2011 and was an active seller until 2012. She said "No, sorry, once you file for bankruptcy you are no longer allowed to sell on eBay"

Is this right? Or should I pursue it further? It doesn't seem to be legal to me.

Thanks!

[Modee]

Well Ebay is a private company so they have a right to refuse business to anyone based on a variety of factors, so long as the factors are not discriminatory on their face. Filing bankruptcy affects your credit worthiness, so yes - Ebay can refuse to do business with you based on a bankruptcy filing if within a certain number of years (Chapter 7, stays on your credit for 10 years from date filed).

Now, Ebay does not run credit when they open accounts for you, so I am not clear how they even know about your bankruptcy, since you state that you paid what you owed them and did not discharge it through bankruptcy.

However PayPal does run credit and is wholly owned by Ebay, so perhaps that is the way that Ebay found out, if you have a PayPal linked to your Ebay (just another reason to AVOID PayPal and get a merchant account and have your Ebay approved by Ebay for "merchant account only" status).

In any case, now that Ebay knows about your bankruptcy, you might have a case to force them to reinstate your account in 2021, when the bankruptcy drops off your credit profile. It would be more difficult to get your account back now, but we could try. I have some arguments that I would offer Ebay that might fly.

No matter what, you need my tech support on new account creation to get back on Ebay.

[happyhaus]

Thank you for your reply. My Paypal account is still in good standing, nothing Paypal or Ebay related was involved in the bankruptcy (it was a bad divorce situation, I was left with three mortgages and a plethora of other marital debts that I couldn't keep up with).

They also told me that nobody related to me could open an eBay account, which I scoffed at. I have a 19 year old son who said he'd go ahead and open an account, but he lives at home. Will that be an issue?

I'm pretty upset about this, I had almost 6,000 feedback on my "old" ID, no negatives.

[Modee]

You really need the Short List to understand how Ebay will link your accounts that you may create in the future and YES, this curse of theirs will fall on you, your family and all your generations unless you learn how to avoid getting linked back to your suspended accounts.

It is likely that your PayPal will be permanently limited soon too.

If you really have no idea how Ebay found out about your bankruptcy then they likely did unearth it while PayPal ran your credit - something they do routinely like any other credit card processor.